Sunday, 10 June 2012

Taking a page or 60 from Kansas, Michigan is pushing through a massive omnibus bill that dramatically limits abortion access and threatens to shut down all abortion clinics in the state. And Republicans can’t move fast enough on it.

The 60 page bill was introduced last week, but today lawmakers already held a hearing on it and plan on sending to the full House for a vote. According to Laura Bassett, almost 100 people showed up to testify against the bill, but Committee Chair Gail Haines (R-Waterford) abruptly ended the hearing and cut off all testimony after a Michigan Right to Life spokesperson and a few others in support of the bill testified.

Hunh. Typical antiChoice fetus lobbyist closes the debate after their side got to spew their disinformation. Taking notes, MP Woodworth?

The bill tries to essentially take every popular abortion restrictions working their way through state legislatures and put it into one big horrible law. The bill would criminalize all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape victims, the health of the mother, or fatal fetal anomalies. It would require health centers that provide abortions to have surgery rooms, even if they do not perform surgical abortions. The bill would also require doctors to be present for medication abortions and to screen women for “coercion” before providing an abortion. It would ban “telemedicine” abortions and would create new regulations for the disposal of all fetal remains.

When she was pregnant with her second child, Jenni Lane of Ann Arbor, MI, was given a routine ultrasound at 18 weeks. Jenni, her husband, and their young daughter were delighted to learn they would be adding a baby boy to their family. But later that night, a phone call brought devastating news: the fetus Jenni was carrying suffered from a severe brain malformation.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Jenni visited specialists and genetic counselors to learn more about her son’s condition. When she learned that he was unlikely to even survive full-term, Jenni made the painful decision to terminate her wanted pregnancy, a decision she understandably describes as “incredibly difficult, and so deeply sad.” By the time her termination was scheduled, Jenni’s pregnancy was in the 21st week.

If Michigan’s extreme anti-abortion legislation — HB 5711, 5712, and 5713 — becomes law, women like Jenni will no longer be permitted to make such a decision.

Was up this morning working around the house half-listening to CBC radio. Michael Enwright decided to open his "Sunday Edition" show with a censuring op-ed about M312, Bertha Wilson(it sounded like he played into the ill-advised interpretation of her remarks) and how gosh darn parliamentary a debate on abortion would be, because, like, Parliament's the place where debates should go on.

I ended up yelling at the radio about how that should work just fine for debating how black people were better off in slavery and gays should be arrested for their sexuality. Talk about someone who's never going to get pregnant dragging out the concern troll soapbox. Geez, I thought better of him.

Anyway, here's the link. After that sterling intro, he goes off to butter London's mayor.